Elskan Kærust
by Jones Tereka Seasight
Summary: There are more. They take. They fake. They are waiting. Fearing them now just might save you later.
1. Chapter 1

All was well.

It had ended just fine too, she decided as she closed her eyes contentedly.

Coraline was a sensible girl-logical, and grounded in facts to a fault.

When she was young, she feared the water. She learnt to swim, and the fear left, for it was unreasonable. She was once afraid of the dark. She got a nightlight, and solved the matter for good.

She had, at one point, feared the Beldam, in much the same way that she had feared the dark and the water.

The Beldam had been vanquished, and the fear went down to the depths with the ancient demon.

Ancient demon. The very thought gave Coraline shivers of pride; she, Coraline, an average, normal girl in almost every way, had defeated a monster of epic proportions, sending it down to Hell where it belonged.

To do so required(as one would expect)bravery. Much bravery. More courage than most had in them. Definetly enough, Coraline decided, to not be afraid of any _normal _thing anymore.

And so Coraline came to fear nearly nothing.

She didn't have nightmares, didn't flinch while watching horror movies, and scoffed to herself at the petty fears of her schoolmates.

But aside from that, the Beldam was dead. Nothing more to it than that, really. And there was no need to fear a dead thing.

Coraline had even gone so far as to use the creature's name as a curse or insult a few times; no one knew what it meant, and for that it seemed all the more offensive.

Killing the creature was, after all, a triumph for which only she could claim credit for; and perhaps Wybie, but he had only helped out at the end anyways.

* * *

One year.

Coraline stared distantly out the window.

_One year._

Had it really been that long?

Life hadn't been impacted by the...Happening much. Not real life. And definetly not her.

But the jolt of realization that there were, in fact, beings like the Beldam, had shocked Coraline much more than she would be willing to admit.

_What if there are more?_

The thought sprang to her mind before she could suppress it, barraling her tranquility to the ground with the absolute bluntness of the idea.

_More than one Beldam...? _

The girl stared out the window, her one drowsy, peaceful face now marred by a scowl.

No. It was impossible.

She shook her head, impatient with herself for coming up with such a ludicrious idea.

No. There was nothing, nothing at all, that even came close to suggesting the existence of another one. Nothing at all.

She stared out the window, placid once more, scorning the thoughts that rattled her veiw of reality.

_What nonsense..._

* * *

**A/N: I know that was really short, but it was just the prelude; newer chapters will be far longer. This was just to set up a bit on where Coraline is at this point, both in mentality and in reality.**

**~Jones Tereka Seasight**


	2. Chapter 2

_She had no nightmares._

_Echos silenced_

_Blood is running upon the floor_

_But she sees not what she does  
_

_Not  
_

_Want_

* * *

"Aargh..."

Coraline stretched as she spun around the computer's chair, only half suppressing a yawn. She glanced at the clock.

3:27 AM

Ah, well. There wasn't any school tomorrow anyway, she thought as she curled up in her bed, not bothering to put on pajamas. And it wasn't as if it had been a night wasted, either, though many people would have classified it as such.

But it really didn't matter, Coraline reasoned as she drifted off, what she had gotten done, or what she had not done, because it wasn't a big deal, not really...She yawned. After all...

_Everyone dies eventually, and then where will you be?_

* * *

"Come on Coraline! We need you up _now!_"

The girl in question growled softly from under her blankets.

"I don't wanna go..."

"And do I sound like _I want _your father to be gone for the next three months?" Mel Jones snapped irritably back at her daughter.

_Oh, yeah, that was today..._Coraline winced slightly at the remembrance.

"Alright, alright, 'm comin'..." She half-groaned, half-spoke, throwing the sheets off of her body and shaking her head in a valiant attempt to wake up.

"You slept in your _clothes?_"

Coraline rolled her eyes.

"Just let me get dressed, okay? I'll be out in a minute."

Mel hesitated for a moment, but after a few seconds of contemplation, seemed to decide that Coraline's readiness for the trip to the airport was more important than her own oncoming lecture, left the room.

As she did, Corline glanced reluctantly at the clock.

5:31

The blue-haired youth groaned once more, and flung herself back on her bed.

* * *

A few minutes later, Coraline was dressed and in the car sulking in the backseat.

"Why do we have to get up so _early?_" She spat contemputously to no one in particular.

"Don't ask me. _I'm _the one getting the sharp edge of the knife."

Coraline sighed, scowling. "It's the blunt edge of the stick, Dad, not sharp edge of the knife."

Charlie Jones turned around slightly in his chair to face his daughter. "They both mean the same thing you know," He said, smirking slightly.

"Yes, but your metaphor isn't a real one!" Coraline shot back.

"Neither of those phrases were metaphors, Coraline," Her father said in a singsong voice. "They were-"

"Who cares what they were?"

Charlie sighed. "I'm not any happier about this than you, you know. If it was up to me, then I wouldn't even be going on this trip."

This did nothing to help Coraline's mood. "Well, how come you can't tell them not to send you to some other flipping country for the whole summer?"

"I work for them, you know. I don't exactly dictate what I do at my job. And it's not the whole summer, either. Just the next three months," Her father replied. His tone wasn't exactly enthusiastic, as if he could tell that nothing he could say would improve his daughters mood.

"Hrmph."

The replying snort that he got as a response only confirmed his theory.

"Alright, everyone, let's get moving," Mel said tiredly as she climbed into the car reluctantly.

Coraline did not respond.

* * *

A few hours later, though, back at the flat, she had much to say, though none of it was to anyone in particular.

"Three months! Three months he's going to be gone, off to God-only-knows-where for his _stupid _job!"

Coraline shrieked in near-hysteria. She opened her mouth as though to say something more, but seemed to think better of it, and sat down, scowling, on the edge of her bed.

"This is so _stupid..."_

She paused for just a moment, hesitated before continuing.

"It almost makes me wish..."

The last few words, she uttered so quietly and so carefully, that no one could possibly have heard them, unless they had been sitting directly next to her.

"That something _interesting _would happen..."

* * *

**A/N: The real action and plot will start popping up in the next chapter! And just so you know, this is a combined universe; The book and the movie. This will come into the plot later...**

**~JTS**


End file.
